


What an Idiot

by MrBurner



Category: Dishonored (Video Games)
Genre: Gen, suicide mention tw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-06
Updated: 2018-09-06
Packaged: 2019-01-28 01:19:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 19
Words: 10,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12594840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrBurner/pseuds/MrBurner
Summary: Post DOTO. Somebody’s been kidnapped!Now with Corvo actually talking to his ex-whale god ex-bff.





	1. Chapter 1

It was uncomfortable, especially around his ankle where the chain was grinding down on the broken bone. They’d done that deliberately. He was sure they had. He couldn’t run like this, and they wanted him to remember it. 

_It’s good that my head’s too heavy to look at it_ , he decided through the fog. _Thanks for drugging me, kidnappers_. Though that itself just raised more questions. Did they know he wasn’t going quite unconscious? Did they want him awake?

And what did _he_ want? Not that it mattered, not that it ever mattered (and wonderful, he was feeling sorry for himself now, how dignified) but what did he want?

His thoughts floated loosely around his drifting mind, spiralling out his ears and up to the cavern roof. He could almost see them.

What did he want most in all the spinning world? Ice cream? Ice cream had been nice, the once he’d had it. He’d told Billie that they made it by packing northern ice in straw and carrying it on ships over the sea. She’d said it was a waste of a ship, but she’d been smiling. 

Oh, Billie. She’d be angry with him. Like he was a child- which he wasn’t. It was insulting.

_Well, haha Billie. Good luck being angry with a corpse._

The trolley - or wheelbarrow? - squeaked as it moved and the voice of the man pushing it occasionally drifted through to him. He didn’t pay attention. Wasn’t much point. 

Instead he closed his eyes and thought of the whales, thought of them singing. They sounded closer than they had since he’d stopped being god, but that didn’t make any sense. They weren’t in the mountains, he would be able to tell. He was sure. 

_How? You don’t know anything anymore._

He couldn’t argue with that. One thing he’d found he hated about being human was the constant doubt, the constant miserable lack of certainty. 

It was terrifying. Would have been more than he could take right now if he hadn’t been half in drugged out darkness. How did they cope with it? 

It was almost comforting that he’d probably be dead before he could find out. 

Eventually, from the drugs or just exhausted, frightened boredom, that dark rose up and swallowed him down. It was a miserable, fitful sort of sleep. 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Billie is too good for this.

She wondered, as she plunged on, sewage splashing up with every step, eye straining in the murk, if he understood how much she hated him.

She doubted it. She decided she’d look forward to telling him, after she’d saved him. _Again_.

The rats had told her where to go, so she’d gone. She trusted the rats. Trusted them more than she trusted people, though that didn’t say much. Rats only bit when you deserved it.

And so she was down here in the muck where she belonged, looking for a boy who needed saving again by the Outsider’s black-

Nope. Couldn’t say that anymore. She reminded herself to be angry with him for that too- he’d taken all the good curses away.

There was light ahead- daylight. The end of the goddamn tunnel. A few more minutes and she reached it, found herself up against a metal grid. On the other side a deep cliff plunged down into the evening darkness, sticking the city’s sewage where nobody who mattered had to think about it. Assholes.

Damn them.

It had already occurred to her ten, maybe twelve times that she could leave the kid to whatever he’d got himself into. She wasn’t responsible. Hell, she was barely reliable.

Billie smacked her hand against the metal, cursing the Outsider’s crooked cock, and then, when she realised, herself. That one she _really_ needed to quit.

The grid was loose, and with a little effort it swung back.

Someone had been here recently. And since that meant trekking through sewage, it was probably the guy she was looking for. 

Billie’s eye searched the cliffs for what she hoped she’d find- and there it was. A hook. Better than nothing.

Her aim was off since she’d lost her arm- since he’d taken her arm and the thing he’d left instead had withered with his magic. It took two throws of the rope before she’d got it hooked firmly enough to trust, and even then she wasn’t certain.

 _Well, kid, if I die I can’t save you._ It’d be funny really, he’d basically killed her so she’d basically kill him back. He’d deserve it.

She cursed again, managing finally not to mention him, and swung herself down into the dark.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now with added creeping.

"You’re so beautiful.”

It drifted through to him - the voice hard and frighteningly sincere.

And unfamiliar too. Once, not long ago, he would have heard a life in it. Now though…

The curiosity was enough to force his tired eyes open.

They’d reached a cavern, low ceilinged and roughly circular. On either side dark passages stretched away.

_One going back, one going forward. And you have now idea which is which._

He was still tied down, his ankle feeling painfully swollen. It would almost be worth dying of an infection, just to get the last laugh. Only almost.

“You’re so beautiful.” Murmured the man again. This time, the I-can’t-keep-calling-you-Outsider (Billie’s nickname) managed to focus on him. On his shape, anyway. The shadows were long down here.

He was thin, tall, stern faced and stooping, now, over him. He had one knuckley hand inches from his face.

“I never imagined I’d be so close. That I could…”

The fingers brushed his cheek and left a cold, slimy feeling there. Maybe his distaste showed, because the kidnapper took a sudden step back.

“I am sorry. For touching you. It was… sacrilegious.” He shook his head, shameful and appalled.

It would have had more meaning without the ankle. Maybe he should point that out.

“If you’re sorry-“, there was an unfortunate slur in his voice, it left him undignified, “then unchain me. I can’t run. You’ve seen to that.”

“I would. But it’s not up to me.”

Ah, so there were more of them.

“They’re watching me from the walls.”

Or maybe not.

The Outsider swallowed. Perhaps his throat was too dry for it because suddenly he was coughing and coughing, half choking.

“Oh- oh let me help you!” There he was, his saviour. He was leaning over him and pouring foul tasting water down his throat. It hurt him, it got in his eyes, the Outsider wondered for a moment if he’d die like this instead. But no. His stupid body wanted to live, and after a few moments the burning passed and his sight cleared and there was the man looking down at him again.

“Don’t die. You can’t die.” His voice was quiet and still ringing with honesty. “If you die, we’re all lost.”

He understood. He’d already known.

“You want to put me back in the Void.”

He didn’t need to reply to let him know he was right.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rises from the depths with a new chapter

The problem with introspection was that you couldn’t get away from it. Not by running, not by drinking, and apparently not even by one armed abseiling into an abyss.

_So, Lurk, what are you doing here?_

Not responsible. That was a damn lie. You save someone, you owed them. It was her fault he was what he was, and as he was chronically incapable, it was her job to keep him that way. 

And now introspection had managed to distract her from how little rope she had left. She hadn’t even thought of that. Stupid. _Stupid_. Well, you couldn’t rely on anything. She shouldn’t be surprised. Billie hesitated, looked around for options. There it was- a neat rock ledge, just close enough to swing to. Or just far enough for her to fall trying.

She hated that kid.

The first swing was wildly off, but Billie kicked herself back on track and the second skirted close. The third was as good as she was likely to get so she jumped. But the edge was still too far or her balance was off and she stumbled, and she fell.

And caught herself so hard that her knuckle joints bounced.

For one dizzy moment she dangled there, legs kicking into the dark, teeth clenched, every speck of her caught between terrified and furious.

She would _not_ die this way.

Her arm had other ideas. Stupid thing wouldn’t lift her. She swore at it and cursed it and threatened it with all the terrible things she’d ever done to arms. There were a lot.

And something there worked. Billie’s elbow creaked as she finally, finally started to lift herself up, as she dragged herself over the cliff edge and - face scraped from the rock - lay there, flat and panting and once again alive. 

Of course that was when a sword pressed into the back of her neck. Of course it was.

Billie growled, but it was a weak sort of noise. She was too fucking old for this.

“Billie Lurk.”

Even better. She turned her head enough to make sure it was who she thought it was. Yep. Great. Of course. Of fucking course.

“We’ve met before. Once.” said Corvo Attano with murder in his eyes.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Billie/Corvo should be called Borvo

He’d tied her up. Well, he’d tied her arm to her back and left her stump free, so that told her how goddamn smart he was. She’d break his neck with her shoulder, if she had to. 

It was morality. It clogged up your brain like syrup. She should know.

“You vanished.” Corvo announced to the valley. Billie held back a snort because she didn’t have time for her ego to get in the way and she was a grown ass adult and she could be sensible when she needed to. 

It wasn’t easy.

He was speaking again. “My daughter tried to find you. I tried to find you. And now you’re here.”

“I haven’t committed any-“

Corvo laughed. Once. Harshly. 

_Should be more careful with your words, Lurk._ She breathed out through her nose and went on, slowly. 

“... I haven’t committed any crimes in a long time.” Not quite true, but she hadn’t killed anyone, and she’d done nothing that could be traced back to her. “I’m not a threat. And I didn’t think the empress was interested in revenge.”

“She’s not.” Corvo’s voice was curt. “And I… well, I’m not making that decision.”

“So the rope?”

“I’m investigating something else. You’ve got to admit, you being here is just too suspicious to ignore.” He leaned down, and she could see it in him. The anger, down under his eyes. He wanted to rip her into pieces. “Talk.”

Billie looked levelly back. 

Honestly? She wasn’t convinced that she shouldn’t. Except that he wouldn’t believe her. And even if he did, she didn’t think he’d want to help the Outsider. Hell- she wasn’t even sure she wanted to help the Outsider. So-

“Family lost a kid. I’m looking for him.” She watched his eyes, spotted the flicker she’d hoped for. He knew all about missing children. He cared about missing children.

Corvo pulled himself back from it though. He’d expect her to play this hand- to play with what she knew would get him. But it had worked anyway. “Right. And you’ve just decided to play good neighbor?”

“Not their neighbor.” Billie put on a smirk, it was important to sell herself as heartless, to make this about helping a kid and not helping her. “They hired me. What do you think, I’m gonna go rope climbing for free?”

It was more than enough. Corvo stepped back, turning away, hand clenching and unclenching- and look at that. His mark was gone. 

“... I’ll leave you here. I’ll be back with the kid.” He said eventually, but Billie shook her head. 

“I know the details. We’re already wasting time here talking about it. Explaining everything’s just going to waste more.”

He only hesitated for a second. He was a father, after all. A real one.

For a second she was almost jealous of Emily, but that was ridiculous even for her. 

Corvo cut her free and helped her up. “When we take him back to his parents, they’re keeping the money.” He told her, claiming the only win he could. It would be more realistic to argue but they had even less time than they’d had seconds before, so she nodded and grunted a ‘fine’.

She’d work out where to get some fake parents from later.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Corvo has self esteem issues

“You’ve been keeping your head down.” Corvo was walking behind her, hurrying them both along and keeping close.

She looked-

She looked like an aging woman, past her prime and built like a cat. All sinew and danger and scars.

She looked like him. 

Or like some other him, some him who’d found Daud instead of Jessamine. And so he hated her and couldn’t hate her. How could he? He’d had a chance and he’d still ended up him. She’d had none. Cutting her down now felt beneath him. Dirty, even.

Beneath him. That was a fucking joke.

“What about it? Getting wrapped up in the royal family hasn’t ever left me rich.”

With the implication being that it had him. He couldn’t argue. Not many poor Karnaca kids ended up sleeping in a palace.

He made the executive decision not to rise to it.

“You’re good. Even missing pieces you’re good. You could be working better jobs than this.”

Lurk didn’t reply, but he saw her shoulders tense. He’d hit a soft spot. Maybe Emily had been right about her. Maybe she wasn’t the woman who’d killed an empress anymore. Maybe she was trying to be good, looking for a missing kid when she could be killing innocent women.

He didn’t buy it.

But he wasn’t here to moralise. Not when he needed real information.

“My point is- are you doing this for some reason? Do you know who took the kid?” The real question was, of course, ‘did they do it because of you’.

But Billie didn’t miss a beat.

“People traders.”

 _Fuck_. Corvo picked up the pace. He’d hoped- no, he’d known it would be this. It was always the worst case scenario.

“They must have a pick up spot down the river. Sea access.”

Lurk grunted, “Seems that way.” then went silent. No wasted words with her. Woman after his own heart.

Corvo ground his teeth and silently resented her. Maybe she was lying. Probably she was lying.

But if she wasn’t and a kid needed help…

His own mission here was all magic and void crap. The black eyed bastard could wait.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey so if you like it, if you hate it, say something! I’d appreciate some communication :)

“I’ve been watching you.” They’d stopped again, somewhere even deeper than before. His kidnapper needed to check his map. 

The Outsider could taste the cold miles of rock around them, and under it something else. Old and familiar and slick and brackish. 

Void. 

Damn it. He wouldn’t be afraid. He wouldn’t die scared again. 

“For weeks. You and that- _woman_.” He spat that and the Outsider thought about how Billie would react if she knew someone else hated her. She wouldn’t admit to caring. She’d say something like ‘add him to the list’ and push on, all wrapped up in her oilskin layers. 

He’d forgotten how to miss someone. He wouldn’t get a chance to remember now.

“Drink some more water.” The beaker was pressed against his mouth again, and the Outsider swallowed without thinking. He was probably being drugged again, but the last draft had left him unable to fight it and too thirsty to want to. 

His kidnapper was staring at him.

“... Are you really in there?” 

Oh, more cryptic-isms. He’d never really appreciated how annoying they must have been for all the people he’d chosen to visit. It was enough to make him regret it.

The Outsider made an effort to focus and managed to drag out some sarcasm. “If I’m not here then let me go.”

But in the frustrating way of all cryptic speakers the man wasn’t really looking for conversation. 

“If you were you you’d be clever. You’d think of a way to talk your way free.” He waved a calloused hand, “I could never have caught the real you. This- this thing you’ve become with her- this child. It’s all fake. I’ll put you back and cut you free and you’ll see it. And then…”

There was a flash of something in his eyes. Something the Outsider recognised. More, he recognised that calloused hand, recognised it for the mark it didn’t have anymore. 

Of course. It had been yesterday, or two hundred years ago. Time was tricky to work out. Losing the void had taken so much from him that he sometimes wondered if his head was more holes than brain. 

“Finias Paige.” The Outsider mumbled through his numbing lips (definitely drugs but too late to care), “You were a sailor. Press ganged then abused. You hated the Captain. I gave you the power to sink the ship.”

Finias’ eyes widened, he fell onto his knees. “You- you remember. You really…”, Now he was crying, he wiped his dirty sleeve over his face, “I did it. I killed them. I took that power and I did something good with it. You let me- it’s why I have to put you back. So you can help. You aren’t this- this tiny little thing you’re pretending to be!” 

The Outsider flinched as his voice rose- it was a stupid little moment of human weakness and of course Finias noticed. 

His eyes turned cold. 

“You think you’re happy like this. Being… this. You aren’t. You’re worthless like this. You’re nothing. Listen to me!” He swung up to his foot and smashed the heel down against the Outsider’s knee.

The pain and fear jolted through him, shook his mind loose from the drug, shot right past the part of him that was what he’d become in the Void and he was suddenly a terrified fifteen year old at the feet of an angry, powerful man.

He’d forgotten that feeling too.

“Don’t!” He yelped- _yelped_ \- trying to curl up and protect himself, trying to do anything. But he couldn’t and he knew it and he should just give up now rather than fight and cry and humiliate himself. 

Finias stopped, face cool, and watched him cower. 

“You shouldn’t be afraid.” He leaned down and pulled the Outsider forward by the front of his shirt. “I only want to save you. I want to make all of this better. Isn’t that what you want too?”

And he was terrified. He was shaking and nauseous with it. 

What could he really do except nod?

“Good. That’s good.” Finias rubbed his rough fingers along the line of his cheek, left a too-warm trail behind. “You don’t think it’s true, but it is. Don’t worry. I’ll show you. I promise.”


	8. Chapter 8

They were going deeper, down into the rock by a crack of a path. Nowhere to hide- even though the shadows looked deep there was nothing to them, just black over rock crags. Corvo, always happier when he could sneak, felt raw. 

But it wasn’t just his own brain prickling: there was something wrong. Something in the cold of the stone that went beyond cold. He knew…

He knew this.

And it meant nothing good.

“Lurk. The people who took this kid. You’re sure they were traders?”

She didn’t answer right away, and that told him enough, but even when she did he could hear that she was thinking out the answer as she went. “... If he’s been taken by a killer then I’ve still got a body to find. Parents might pay for it.”

Then she shut up again. Damn it. He needed her to cooperate, he needed to know what she knew. 

And he resented it, but maybe the carrot was the way to go. His sticks had bounced off her like nothing after all.

“I’m here on official business. For the empress.” He hesitated. “It’s about the Void.”

There. Billie’s shoulders had sharpened, just for a moment. 

She knew something. 

And she knew that he knew too. He could feel the change in the air between them, he could see her working out her next move. It was written in her neck muscles.

“They weren’t traders.” Was how she started, finally. “But they did take a kid. Doing some fucked up Void shit. I don’t know. It doesn’t change anything.” 

Corvo swallowed down the urge to shout something unhelpful: that of course if changed things, that if this was what he was here about it changed everything- 

Unhelpful.

“Something’s changed in the Void. The scientists say it’s a hole, and-“

And there was Emily’s mark. Or, the lack of her mark. He should be glad that it was gone but it had given her security, it had given her a way out when he couldn’t be there. 

And he knew she missed it too. 

“That’s why I came. To find out what happened.” 

Lurk stopped in her tracks.

“Are you here to fix the fucking Void?”

She sounded angry, which was normal, but something else too. Anxious? He didn’t know how that fitted. 

So he made sure his reply was balanced. 

“I’m here to find out if what’s happened means it’s broken.”

Lurk snorted, but there was a new note in her voice when she spoke. Acceptance?No, more like resignment. “How the fuck do you tell if the Void’s broken anyway?”

“Lurk.” He’d never been good at subtlety anyway. “If you want him saved we need to share information.”

She tilted her head back, exhaling a long breath. 

“... There was this group. Outsider worshippers. Called the Eyeless. I ruined their fucking party.”

He knew the name, but then there were a hundred cults worshipping the bastard and they stayed quiet enough not to bother Emily, aka bother him. 

Still. If they were connected to this he should have known. This was how innocent women ended up dead. 

_Do better, Attano._

“What did you do?”

Lurk snorted and turned to him. Her eye was challenging, it looked red in the light that made it down to them.

“I killed him. The Outsider. He’s gone.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time to play the game of ‘what on Earth is Corvo Attano thinking’

She could have told him the truth. They got there and he saw him-

But there was a chance he wouldn’t recognise him. Sure, the kid looked older than fifteen, but as the Outsider he could have been twenty. His whole fucking mystical shtick had helped. He’d held his head high. He’d had black eyes and a strange feeling around him that stopped you from wanting to scrutinise. Now he was just a tall, surly teenager on the wrong side of gangly. No mystique. It was almost as good as wearing a mask.

Anyway, that chance was worth aiming for. What if Corvo agreed with the Eyeless? What if he wanted to stick the kid back into the Void to fix whatever was wrong with it?

She couldn’t let it happen.

She was responsible.

Dammit. 

Maybe it would matter that she’d lied because right now, Corvo just looked incredulous. He should know better by now. 

“You killed a god.”

“Took some work.”

“Who paid for it?”

Billie smiled coldly. “Pro bono.”

Understanding flashed over his face, followed by anger. “Daud. Is he-“

“Dead. I didn’t do that one.” 

Her asshole act almost cracked but Billie swallowed her humanity back again. Not the time. 

Corvo let out a breath and rubbed his hand down his face. He looked suddenly old. Worn. 

Like he-

Like he cared. 

Fuck. 

She wanted to investigate it, but fuck. This wasn’t the time for her to push for information. 

The quiet was too much for her to wait through though. 

“What now? You gonna kill me?” She tried to sound disinterested.

Another exhale. “The Outsider was- he-“

He stopped, and she had a distinct feeling he’d almost said something incriminating. It was gone, he was back to business too fast to be sure. 

Good. Now she knew he wouldn’t kill her. 

“We find the kid first. You think these Eyeless took him for some sort of-“

“A ceremony. They’re fucking sick. Sick means liking stupid ceremonies.” Billie shrugged and turned, kept on walking. No point in waiting now.

Not when she needed to think. 

Because here’s what she knew. Corvo Attano had been marked, and then his mark had been taken by Delilah. By all accounts he’d got the mark during the rat plague, back when she’d killed Jessamine. So that meant he’d known the Outsider for maybe twenty years. And apparently that came with some sort of loyalty, something that would cause him to regret his death. Mourn him? She couldn’t tell how far it went, but it wasn’t impossible and that- 

That unsettled her. 

She’d never heard of anyone being the Outsider’s friend. It might have been useful information, if she’d been able to trust Attano. 

But whatever. Not the time. Instead she pocketed it and pushed on, making a note in her head to ask the kid. 

She better get the goddamn chance.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> People like it when I break the Outsider. Let’s do that some more.

A little while ago they’d reached a hole in the ground, a cave with a mouth so steep it was almost vertical. Finias had struggled with the wheelbarrow, then given up. 

“Forgive me.” He’d mumbled, and awkwardly, gently, slung the Outsider over his shoulders.

If he’d had the energy, if he hadn’t been terrified, he might have felt embarrassed by that. 

“Are you doing this alone?” The Outsider asked him as he started to walk. He wasn’t sure if he expected an answer, but it came. 

“There’s plenty like me who know what needs to happen.” He tightened his grip on the Outsider’s legs, and the ankle cuffs pushed hard into his skin. 

Billie would have said to listen between the words: to hear that Finias had given the type of answer a man did when he wasn’t sure he could lie convincingly but knew the truth would be the same as exposing his soft belly. 

Which meant that he was alone. 

It made sense. More sense than Finias Paige joining the Eyeless. Now that he recognised him, he could remember him too: he hadn’t been looking for power,he hadn’t been looking for knowledge. If the Outsider had believed in them he might have said he was a good man. Or at least not a bad one. He’d been… predictable with his use of the Mark, but most people were. 

And now here he was, a dirty old kidnapper. 

Whose fault was that? Only one answer. 

The Outsider knew he had played with lives. It hadn’t been from cruelty just… what? Curiosity? Distance? After a few years in the black it was so hard to remember that the little mortal mayflies were human. Besides- it had been up to them to do what they’d wanted. It had been them pulling the triggers and summoning the rats. If you sold a man a gun, were you to blame for who he shot? 

Yes. Maybe not the only one to blame, but if you’d picked him out because he looked interesting- he looked on the edge and liable to do something catastrophic and entertaining- then...

He hated Daud for his idiot campaign against him, and he hated him more for being half right. 

The Outsider thought about his Marked. There’d been so many, and so few he remembered. Emily and Corvo were surprising exceptions. But most- 

There had been Malcolm, back long ago. A lord who could have been king, but he found his wife in bed with another man and so he’d killed her, him, and their five little children. He could see a small hand, cut clean from its arm, the fingers half cupped. 

There had been Romana, she’d gone into a rage against the many people who’d hurt her, then torn out her own eyes when she’d realised the damage she’d done. 

There had been a hundred hundred whose names had already faded out of his mind, gone with the Void, leaving behind blood and bone and fleshy mounds. That was his fucking legacy.

“Finias.” He closed his eyes to blot out the swaying ground below him. It was making him sick. “Finias, I didn’t help when I was in there. Maybe you think I did but for every lonely rat boy there were- there were monsters. Assassins and child killers. Don’t put me back.”

“You always judged right. Even if it seemed wrong, it was right. You just can’t see that because you’ve lost yourself.” The Outsider opened his mouth to argue, but before he could, “And you think you’re scared to die too, don’t pretend this is all altruism.”

He couldn’t. Finias was right. He was weak and stupid and he didn’t want to die, and even though he didn’t want anyone else to die either it was still-

His brain was too thick with the drug to find his way out of that. 

“Don’t worry.” Finias tightened his hand into the Outsider’s side. It might have been meant as comforting. “You won’t be scared long.”


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Corvo has complicated feelings about his dear departed frenemy.

Damn her. 

Damn the fucking black eyed bastard. 

Damn it. 

Damn himself.

Corvo knew this feeling. Of course he did. Of all the people in his life, only Emily was still alive. Of course he knew what it was like for someone close to you to die. 

He’d just never resented them for it before. 

(He’d just never imagined that he’d consider them close.)

The Outsider had been a tormentor. He’d had fun watching him suffer. He’d treated the darkest time in Corvo’s life as void damn entertainment. He’d been a monster, and- 

And he’d also given him the power to save his daughter. To save the city and avenge Jessamine. He’d told him that he could matter which-

Damn it, he shouldn’t care. If anything it should be a relief to know that those fucking black eyes wouldn’t be watching him again. 

But despite all that, he cared. Which brought him to the second problem. What should he do?

Normally he’d have killed Lurk. Life for a life, right? Though he’d tried to leave that back in the bad old days- maybe he’d have dragged her into a cell instead. Maybe. But this crime couldn’t be avenged like that because no court would convict her for killing the Outsider, and if he finished her himself that would be… admitting it. Admitting that it mattered. 

Damn him, he was a fucking coward.

And then there was Emily. Because even though Lurk had killed her mother, even though she’d hidden- and damn it, even Daud had stayed and admitted to what he’d done- she’d forgiven her. She’d forgive her for the Outsider too. She would want him to walk away, hands bloodless.

Though, muttered a treacherous voice in the back of his brain, you’re here in Karnaca, nobody’s going to care about one more corpse in the sea. 

 

“These tunnels are fucking old.” Lurk’s voice echoed back to him, and he heard a new edge to it. She was worried he’d kill her too. Well, good. Even if he couldn’t act, he could scare her. 

It was something. 

It wasn’t really. 

“Attano, did you hear me? Be careful. I can’t drag you and the kid out of here.”

Yeah. Fuck. The kid. He could focus on saving the kid. Keep his damn stupid thoughts bolted down till the problem was solved. 

He couldn’t. 

“How’d you do it?”

“Do what?” He could have stabbed her just for that. She knew. Of course she knew. She was playing dumb and he hated it. 

“Kill him.” 

Lurk stiffened. More fear. He let himself enjoy it and didn’t think about what that meant. 

Her voice sounded stiff too. No more fucking cockiness, huh Lurk? Good. “Took work. Had to find a knife. Go into the Void.”

“And then what? Did he put up a fight?”

Now he knew the growl in his throat was audible. Damn, he could hear it himself. 

Lurk’s voice though, was half wavering. “Attano, don’t-“

He didn’t hear her. He already had his hand around her throat, had her shoved against the rough cave wall. 

But he didn’t. Because she’d stuck out an arm before he could move, she was gesturing forward, down into the dark of the cavern. 

Unearthly blue light was playing on the damp tunnel. Whatever this was, they were there.


	12. Chapter 12

Last time there had been rings on his fingers and expensive oil on his skin. This time he had a broken ankle and shackles. 

If he’d been himself he might have felt offended. 

The way into the Void here was… different. No passing through the eye of the old god, perhaps the world had just faded thin without him noticing. Then finally another portal, but smaller, uglier. Finias had to bow his head to get them both through. 

“I’m sorry, this is… inelegant. You deserve better.” 

The Outsider wasn’t sure about that, but he said nothing. 

And then there they were. The Ritual Hold. All doorways led to here then. 

“I dreamed it.” Mumbled Finias, as he carried him across the silent unwater and toward his pinnacle. “I dreamed all of this.”

“That doesn’t mean it has to happen.” The Outsider said quietly, but his voice was weak. He’d already failed to stop this once. He’d fail again. 

How long would it take? Would Finias be fast? Or would his old hands tremble on the knife?

The knife… 

Had he taken it too? Did he even know about it? And then like a shot of light through his heart-

If he didn’t have the knife, killing him would just kill him. 

He’d just be dead. He’d just-

And that would be better. Better for himself, yes, but then so much more than that. 

No Outsider. 

He realised with a staggering breath that that would be okay. 

Maybe… maybe this was even what he should have done, after Billie pulled him out. Maybe she should have killed him herself.

Maybe this was how it was meant to be.

And then, as Finias places him down on the black rock, he saw it in his hands. 

Two blades. It might not have been The Knife, but it was A Knife. A Knife the same as it. A Knife which was made for this.

Maybe there’d always been more than one. Maybe Finias had found some ancient instruction manual. It didn’t really matter.

It would work either way.

“I should bind you again. But… ah, what’s the use? You can’t run.” Finias smiled an avuncular smile and twisted the hilt between his fingers. 

He had to try.

“You’re dooming- you’re dooming everyone! You wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t- if I hadn’t marked you. You wouldn’t be this-!” He sounded thin and pathetic. He hated himself all the way down to his toes, all he could manage in his final, horrible moment of terror was a whimper: “Finias. Please.”

“Hush. No crying.” Finias touched his face and finally, slowly, raised the knife.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Billie is too late.

It was worse than being watched. Of course it was. But the fucking bones of similarity were there.

Skin crawling, hair raising. Judging- and she knew enough about that for it to hurt. 

But yeah. Worse. It peeled under whatever she had for a heart and looked at the secrets she had there. It pulled them out into the big bright open. It knew what she thought of herself, and it judged her for that too. 

Was that what it felt like for him? All those years down here? Sure, he’d been dead, but not really. And Billie thought of the expression on his frozen face and wondered if that was why. 

Fuck. Not again. 

Corvo was feeling the shift in reality too. Probably as bad as her, she saw him stumble as she pulled herself upright, as her eyes scanned ahead and- 

Fuck. Fucking fuck. There were people up there. She was already too fucking late. 

“Come on!” She ran past Corvo, heading across the familiar shades of landscape, heading toward the crevice and toward whatever was waiting for them, she gave up on pretending not to care and broke into a fucking sprint.

To his credit, Corvo caught up fast. By then she was out of breath- the air here was too thin and weak for human lungs. Billie kept going, inhaling as deep as she could to keep herself going.

Her boots left a pattern on the non-water, and then kicked up rocks as she reached the platform. She had to be here in time. She fucking had to be-

They should have run all the way. What had she been doing, having a fun little chat as she strode leisurely along? Why had she bothered lying? Why the fuck did she-

She rounded the top of the slope, and saw it: the two figures, the kid and an old man. Both of them, and she’d known it was coming, fuck she’d smelled it, but-

But she hadn’t wanted to think it. 

There was so much damn blood.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ye for suicide now

Corvo felt his age everywhere, but his eyes were still sharp and fast to take in details. Blood, spilled. Kid, blood over his face and shirt, chained. Old guy- kidnapper?-, on the ground.

Everything else here was a fucked up geographical mess, but this he could understand. Kid had killed the guy. Self defence. Who wouldn’t have done the same? His automatic reaction was to go over, break the chains and get him down but-

But the kid had a gun. The kid had a gun, and it was pressed under his own chin.

Fuck. What had they _done_ to him? Corvo flexed out his hand automatically, but nothing, of course. No magic to stop him hurting himself.

God.

He was fucking useless.

His thoughts flailed, he needed something to say, something to do, anything, but-

No. Desperation wouldn’t help. Corvo’s mind switched from worry to professional, his thoughts turned cool and precise. It wasn’t that he didn’t care, it was that this- this _detachment_ \- this was what let him save people. Save Emily so long ago. And right now that instinct told him to let Billie lead.

And she did.

“Don’t.” Her voice had a new rasp to it. Maybe that was just how everything sounded in this between-space space. Maybe not. She looked desperate. Unlike herself. “It’s okay, kid. It’s me. He was the only on-“

“Billie.” Kid knew her name, and that confirmed it. Something else going on here. Something between them. “You found me.” Something strange in his voice too. Almost too… _un_ strange?

Fuck, this place was getting to him.

(Corvo focused, looked for a way to get closer without being seen. Maybe the ledge behind the rock?)

“Yeah. I found you.” Billie edged closer. “And you took the asshole out.”

“He wasn’t an asshole.” The kid’s voice was quiet, contemplative, he pulled the gun closer and Corvo saw his finger tighten. Billie must have too- she stopped, her eye widened. “He wasn’t. Not before me.”

What? But Billie understood. She breathed out a “Fuck.”

The kid smiled at her, sickly and weak. He looked drugged. (Made sense. Easiest way to get someone somewhere they didn’t want to go.)

“That’s right. One of mine. I think the Void told him to bring me. I think-“, His dull eyes moved slowly and settled on Corvo. They widened. Just slightly. He must have been surprised as hell for anything to get through the junk in his system.

Something itched at the back of Corvo’s mind. A realisation.

The kid looked over at Billie again. “You brought him.”

“I didn’t bring him. He- he showed up. Kid-,” Billie’s voice had turned plaintive, coaxing. It didn’t suit her. “He showed up. It’s fine. He isn’t-“

 

“It’s good. It’s okay. He was one of the last. He deserves to see it all end.” He lifted the gun again, it pressed into the pale skin under his chin.

Billie made a sound, small and painful. “Why are you- just let me _understand,_ kid. What did he do to you? What did he say to-“

“I’m a monster. All the time but- but when I can act on it... That’s worse. That’s when I...” His voice was steady. Certain. “And he wanted to put me back. Let me do it again. Let me…”  

He shrugged, slowly, and something in the movement, something fluid and slight and Corvo finally, _finally_ knew.

“You should have killed me, Billie.” Murmured the Outsider.


	15. Chapter 15

Shit. Fucking black eyed bastard’s fucking cock. 

She was Billie goddamn Lurk. She’d messed around in more magic than anyone else who still had their head on straight, and standing here, looking at this stupid kid threaten his stupid life, she was more scared than she’d ever been. 

“Listen. Kid. The old asshole got into your head. He drugged you, right?” She was only asking to make the point, the kid’s eyes were glassy and staring. Pupils wide enough to make the whole of them look almost black. 

Fucking nostalgic.

“You’re not thinking right. You don’t want to die.”

“No. But I’m a coward.” He smiled weakly, tilting his head. Sweat and blood had pasted his hair against his skull, he looked sick, and very young. “Corvo knows.”

Fuck. She’d almost forgotten about him.

He’d frozen behind her, she felt his stillness through the air and glanced back to make sure he wasn’t reaching for his sword. But no. Corvo’s arms were stiffly at his sides, he was staring at the kid with an unreadable expression. She could deal with that. No help, but at least he wouldn’t be a problem.

“Nobody wants to die. Doesn’t make you a coward.” She risked another half inch forward, raising her hand slightly. “Come on, kid.”

“I’m not a kid.” He smiled again, looking sickly, then his expression slackened, he swallowed, terror flitted over his face. “They killed that out of me. You know that.”

Fuck. “Come on.” She said again, because she needed to say something. The kid looked like he might cry. And if he started crying he’d definitely do it. Fuck. 

Not for the first time in her life, Billie wished that she was someone else. Some other her. Someone soft enough to know what to do here. Offer a hug or something, the right words to reassure and soften him. Something.

But she was just her, so she worked with what she had. 

This would be much easier if she could just jump at him. Violence was easy. But that trembling trigger finger-

“You want to talk, we can talk. But let’s do it without a gun.”

He didn’t even seem to hear her. The kid was babbling, eyes going unfocused. “Daud. Daud understood. He knew about me. He knew what I did. He wanted you to kill me and you didn’t and you should have, Billie. Why didn’t you kill me and save them? Why didn’t you-“

Daud. Dead and haunting them. Daud, the man she loved most, her father. She was angry with him, under the cold terror of watching the kid hold the gun to his neck, a low, hot burning rage. How could he have said that? How could he have wanted her to kill the kid? Had he known what she’d find in the Ritual Hold? That the Outsider was this, not the god they’d all expected? 

But then. 

But then she hadn’t killed him. 

Daud, whose mind she’d changed with just her own words. That cut through her. 

She could do more than spit platitudes. 

“Kid… Daud was wrong.” Those words felt solid. She could stand on them. “He knew it. He wasn’t a good man, and he was angry at the end, but even with that he was smart enough to come around. You know he did.”

The kid turned to her again, face hollow and desperate. “He did what you said.” 

“Yeah?” Billie snorted, straightened up, regained herself. “Well, even if he only did it because of me, he still did it. Listening to me is smart. Try it.” 

She stepped toward him with more certainty now. 

“I’ve seen you. I know you. You’re not what you think you are.”

He swallowed again, half choking, and made a noise something like a sob.

“You’re hurt. And I’m guessing that runs deeper than whatever that bastard on the floor said to you.” Another step. “I should have seen it. Feelings have never been one of my things. But I can do better. I want to do better.”

Billie extended her hand, palm upright and waiting for the gun. 

“I want to do better for you, kid. We’ve all done bad things. Give yourself a chance. Give me a chance. Give me the gun.”

He was crying. His arm uncurled slowly and shaking, he fumbled at the last moment and the gun hit the ground instead of her hand. The kid started at the clatter, but Billie smiled at him and stepped forward. She cut through his ropes and caught him in her one strong arm as he slumped free.

He felt small. He felt safe. 

So did she.


	16. Chapter 16

They didn't need to talk about what to do next. Not the immediate what-now next. He and Billie were both practical, both knew instinctively that they needed to get out of this hell hole and back into the real world. 

 

It helped that neither of them _wanted_ to have The Inevitable Conversation. The potential energy from it hung over their heads and sizzled like a thunderstorm. 

 

The- _fuck_ \- the Outsider was unconscious, and Billie couldn’t carry him all the way back herself. That left Corvo in the strange position of having to sling him over his shoulder, then carry him on his back when the rock passage became too narrow. Carry him carefully too. The man who’d taken him had broken his ankles. 

Fuck, who did that to a-

Could he really do that? Think of the Outsider as a kid? Corvo bolted down the thought he’d almost had. Later. 

He felt warm. That was maybe the strangest thing. If anything, he felt _too_ warm. Probably his body burning off the drugs, he’d seen a lot of that back before Jessamine. 

Back in the bad old days the Outsider had radiated cold like ice in a skin suit. And now here he was, warm. Warm like he was really alive.

Warm like Emily with a childhood fever. 

Fuck. Emily. She was the last kid he’d carried around like this, probably the only kid he’d carried since he’d been a kid himself. Though the Outsider looked older than she’d been when she’d started protesting that she was ‘grown up now and didn’t want a piggyback’.  

What would she say when he told her about this? How  _ would _ he tell her about this? And if removing the Outsider was what had caused the Void to act up then maybe-

No. No, of course she wouldn’t. Emily was an Empress, but she was a good person first. She wouldn’t order the death of a kid. 

The air had been steadily clearing of whatever made it taste of the dark salted wrongness of Void, and then they were finally out into the real world. 

It was dark. Still. But the chirping and croaking, the night time mountain wolf howls, felt almost overwhelming after all that quiet. 

Billie must have agreed. She stopped and took a breath, shifted the Outsider since it had been her turn to carry him, and gave Corvo a one eyed glare over her shoulder, then nodded sideways at the ground. 

He knew what she meant. It was late- too late for travelling. Because of the wolves. Because of the danger of putting a foot wrong in the dark. 

He grunted, and nodded, and then when she didn’t make the first move, he sat. After another moment so did she, easing the Outsider to the ground beside her. Right beside her. 

She wouldn’t have trusted Corvo with a rotten apple. Fair enough. 

They set his ankles together: it was a messy job, but the breaks weren’t bad. Actually, they’d been done carefully. Skillfully. Corvo let out a grunt, turning his thoughts away from the man they’d seen down there putting his gnarled hands on the kid’s ankles and twisting- 

He remembered Emily at fifteen. She’d been haughty and confident and so breakable that thinking about it hurt. 

How many times had she had to get a punch past his blocks before he’d changed his mind about that?

But. This wasn’t Emily. This was the Outsider. 

A human, teenage Outsider with blood on his face and broken bones. 

They finished fixing him up. Corvo moved back to his rock and left Billie to stay where she was. She did: crouched  like a mountain lion protecting a kill, or a cub. 

“So.” She said finally, making it a threat. “We need to talk.”


	17. Chapter 17

The rule of conversations you didn’t want to have was simple: make the first move. Take ownership.

Billie had no problem with that.

“So.” She said, voice flat, "We need to talk.”

Corvo returned her steady glare with his own, cooler, look. The man was a damn carrion crow though- she knew he was just waiting for something vulnerable to rip into. 

“We do.” He said finally, breaking the spell. “Tell me what happened.”

Thank god they weren’t doing small talk. Though honestly, what the hell would small talk even look like right now?

“Mostly what I told you. Daud wanted the kid- wanted  _ him _ dead. I went to do it.”

“Then?”

“Then I found a fourteen year old instead of a god. So I did some magic shit and got him out instead.”

He nodded, and something flashed in his eyes. Approval. But that would just mean he’d think she’d chosen her words to manipulate him. Maybe she had. 

“And now?”

Billie narrowed her eye. “I’m assuming we’re under arrest. I don’t know what for, but you’ll think of something.”

Another flash. He glanced away, then back at her. 

“Do you _want_ me to arrest you?”

She snorted. “Of course not.”

Corvo frowned. His eyes slipped toward the kid, she watched him watch him breathe. She knew what he’d be thinking: the Outsider hadn’t had to breathe. Another tiny, constant reminder of what she'd done. 

“Do you want me to take him and let you go?”

Billie felt her body tense, she focused her eye into a stormy, dark look, and clenched her fists. Corvo shuffled slightly on his rock. He was intimidated. Good.

“ _ No _ .”

She expected him to challenge that. Wasn't like she had a track record of sticking things out. He surprised her when he nodded instead, accepting. For now anyway. Probably he was just waiting to use it. Storing up her weak points like ammunition. 

“What if I took you back as a... guest. Not a prisoner. Face it. Out here. Alone.” For all that he was being _nice,_ his eyes were sharp, intently set on her face. “You’re in danger. Him, especially. The man who took him this time won’t be the last.”

“So we should go back to Dunwall? With you? Eat fucking cakes with the Empress?”

“It’s better than cultists.”

“Yeah. Let’s just tell all of Emily’s advisers and the whole damn court about about him instead. See how long he lasts with them.”

Corvo said nothing. He didn’t need to. He knew just as well as she did that hiding the kid from the court wouldn’t work- not with every wealthy family spying on every other wealthy family. Felt good to score a point. 

Finally:

“So. What do you want to do?”

Easy answer. 

“For you to leave us alone.”

“And if someone else comes after him?”

“He’s still growing. Give him a few weeks to tan, let him build some damn muscles and he won’t look like the Outsider anymore.”

For some reason that made him smile. She didn’t think she’d seen Corvo smile before, and for an uncanny moment he looked like Daud on one of the rare days he’d dropped his frown. They had the same sharp eyes. Same reluctant twist on their lips. 

She hated that. 

“What?” 

“Nothing.” After a moment he shrugged, seemed to realise that there was no way she’d let it drop. “When Emily told me about you, I didn’t think you’d be so… protective.”

Billie bristled. “I took him out of the Void. You can’t just leave someone after that.”

Corvo’s head tilted, he really did look like a crow- all angles and dark hair where it hadn't grayed and those damn, staring, knowing eyes. “You could. You haven’t.”

“Maybe I’m a better person than you.”

He snorted. “Neither of us is good.”

Okay. He had a point there.

“You know what I want.” She sighed, keeping her voice level and controlled. “And you know that I can’t make you let us go.  We can’t run either. Not with his ankles like that.”

More silence. More of his staring. 

Fine. 

Billie broke eye contact, looked down and breathed in. Arguments made. Time to cut to the heart of it. 

And there he was, still staring. She twisted her mouth and tilted her head, it had to end like this but she didn't have to like it. 

“What’re you going to do, Corvo?”


	18. Chapter 18

Corvo’s eyes narrowed, but not in suspicion. Something else. Something more subtle.  “How long were you… I mean-“

Ah. Sympathy.

He wondered if he should lie. Maybe it would be the kind thing to do, now sympathy was getting involved. But Corvo had always valued the truth.

“Four thousand years. Give or take. My memory of it has become imprecise.” 

Corvo let out a long, hissed breath between his teeth. “You could have told me. Years ago. If I’d known- I would have  _ helped  _ you.”

He realised he was staring at Corvo. It should have occurred to him that he’d say that, but somehow- 

Corvo Attano.  _ Always  _ surprising.

“It wasn’t…” he sighed, wishing he had an explanation that would make sense to someone who’d never been a god. “It wasn’t time. You were too important.” No, neither worked. Not for mortal reasoning. “I’m… sorry.” 

Corvo snorted, shook his head. “I don’t want an apology. You’re a kid. And you were trapped. In that…  _ place _ . I  _ should  _ have helped.”

Void. He smiled, half certain Corvo was joking and knowing all the same that he wasn’t. What on earth could he say to that? 

“You were sixteen when you went to Dunwall.” Not exactly a strong start. 

Especially not when Corvo shrugged it off. “Two years is a lot of difference when you’re fourteen.”

Hmm. Fine.

“I’ve been… as I am for centuries. I wouldn’t call myself ‘fourteen’. I’m not a child.”

Corvo stared at him. Suddenly he smiled, an incredulous sort of smile, and made a noise that was almost a laugh.

“What?” It was becoming obvious that he’d… lost whatever sort of battle this conversation had been. He wouldn’t let himself become annoyed about it. “What have I said that’s  _ funny _ ?”

“Nothing.” Another head shake from Corvo, he rubbed his neck and exhaled. “It’s… sad. No fourteen year old ever thought they were a kid.”

“So I’m more of a  _ kid  _ because I know I’m not.”

“If you like.” 

“Maybe you’re just feeling your age.” He regretted it as soon as he’d said it. If there was a list of things that petulant children said to smug adults, old age pokes would be at the top. 

Corvo smiled crookedly, but was kind enough to drop it.

“You seemed older. Before.”

“Power, mystery and prestige.” He shrugged, still irritated. “And perhaps you weren’t paying attention.” 

“Perhaps you were standing where you’d look taller.”

Maybe not  _ that  _ kind. 

Corvo sighed, turning serious again. Thank Void. 

“I’m sorry. Not that I couldn’t rescue you, if you say that was impossible, I believe you. I’m sorry that it happened.”

Well. He could accept that. He nodded. “Thank you. But it had to happen. It was… destined, I suppose.”

“That doesn’t make it okay.” Corvo frowned, visibly thinking. “Do you remember when we found you?”

More than he wanted to. “A little.” Till then he’d been stepping around the thoughts: not an easy job, but a necessary one. He’d killed Finias. He was still covered in his blood. He could have found another way.  

He glanced up again, and found that Corvo’s eyes had turned soft. He didn’t like that. It made him uneasy. “The old man. You shouldn’t feel bad about acting to protect yourself.”

“He didn’t-“. How could he explain it? “He was one of my marked. I ruined his life. He deserved his revenge. If it hadn’t meant going back into the Void, doing more damage, I wouldn’t have fought.”

And now Corvo was staring. Damn it.

“Was what you tried to do down there, was that… something you want to do now?”

Double damn. Apparently Corvo Attano, Royal Protector and assassin, was going to talk to him about feelings.

“I’ve lived a long time, Corvo. Or… perhaps lived is the wrong word.  I’ve existed. I know what suicide is. I am  _ not  _ suicidal. I…just, I understand what Billie was trying to tell me, but I’m not sure I believe it.”

Corvo closed his eyes. Shook his head.

“You’re fourteen years old. You know what I’d have done with all that power when I was fourteen? Hell, my daughter’s been an empress since she was ten. If I’d thought it was possible I’d have taken her as far as I could from that crap. You kids… we have no right to do what we do to you.”

The old idiot was far too much of a parent. Something tugged inside the ex-outsider’s chest. 

“I watched you raise her. You’re a good father. You shouldn’t disregard that.”

“Not exactly my point.” Corvo smiled, almost. “But thanks. Though I’d advise you to play down the ‘watching’ thing in polite company.”

He wrinkled his nose distastefully. “You aren’t polite company. Besides, I hardly remember most of it.”

“That must be strange.” He was silent again for a moment, leaning back, eyes closed. He spoke without sitting up. “What do you want me to do? Billie thinks I should leave you two alone. I’m… not so certain.”

Eventually he’d learn to expect surprises from Corvo. He eyed him suspiciously. “Do I get a choice?”

Corvo sat up again to meet his eyes. “I won’t force you somewhere you don’t want to go. You’ve had enough of that.”

“Emily-“

“Is a good person. She’ll understand.”

Unfortunately he couldn’t really argue with Corvo there: she was good- as much as anyone was good, which meant basically not as bad as she could have been. 

And because of that, here he was with a choice.

It was quite the proposition. 

His eyes flicked away, glanced across the line of the horizon, then back to Corvo.

“Did… Billie say if she-“, His voice squeaked. Really squeaked. Damn. 

And damn Corvo, who smiled at the sound. 

“She said she wanted you with her. If that’s what you were going to ask. Or-“, Corvo shrugged, “Rather she implied that she wouldn’t allow it to be any other way.”

She’d asked for him. Demanded him. 

He leaned forward, bowing his head. Hoped the shadows were hiding his face. No ex-god should ever be pathetic enough to smile at hearing he was wanted. 

“... If the choice is mine, I’d like to stay with her.” 

Corvo nodded. He was still smiling that same, patronising, soft smile.  _ Void _ , it was unsettling. “It’s yours. For what it’s worth… I think you made it right. Back down there in that- that place. She talked you down. I hadn’t expected to see that in her. I think you need that.”

“Corvo, please stop talking.” He couldn’t bear to look at him. Had he ever been this embarrassed before? He felt like it might kill him. Maybe it  _ would.  _

“Okay, okay-”

“Back.”  Billie. Thank void. She strode in, met his eyes with her own and sent him the tiniest smile. A minuscule nod. 

He was so happy to see her. 

  
  



	19. Chapter 19

Billie lurked well. Of course she did. Her name had started as a joke. By now it was a promise.

 

Even in a barren fucking wasteland like this. 

 

She’d pulled up her pants ten minutes before, carefully not going so far that Corvo and the kid were out of sight, then she’d lurked. Watched. Corvo said he’d let the kid decide what he wanted, but the best way to test that was, well, test it. If he tried to run she’d have the drop. That was all she needed to take him. 

 

She watched the kid wake up. Watched Corvo coo over him like a mother hen. Sneered, because damn, that man was more father than person. 

 

It didn’t last. 

 

As she stayed there, as she saw them talk and saw the kid awkwardly shuffle between the levels of their conversation, as she saw Corvo steer him through that- 

 

Fuck. He could  _ do _ this. 

 

She should go. Leave them. Corvo wasn’t a threat to the kid, and watching them now, she knew he’d protect him from whatever went on in Dunwall.

 

She had no right to ruin someone else’s life along with her own. Here she was, demanding the kid go with her just because-

 

She didn’t have a because. 

 

Billie stood up, let out a breath, but she didn’t leave. The kid was talking. From here she could almost hear him, but she didn’t have to. You didn’t need two eyes to read lips.

 

She could see him say he wanted to stay with her. 

 

Well. 

 

Fuck.

 

Shouldn’t make a difference, but it did. She couldn’t just leave when he’d said that. Had he made the wrong choice? Probably. But Billie wouldn’t take that from him.

 

And she’d saved him. She was responsible. 

 

She  _ wanted _ to be responsible. 

 

They exchanged a smile when she walked back, neither of them entirely comfortable with it, both of them trying anyway. 

 

The kid had broken ankles. Maybe Socolov would help. Maybe the doctor. And Corvo would want to stay in touch, which would be a ducking delight.

 

It was a lot to deal with. A lot to face. 

 

“We’ll be okay.” She said quietly to the kid when Corvo headed off to take his own piss break. It felt like the right thing, like what he needed to hear- until she said it. Then it turned cheap. 

 

But the kid met her eye. Nodded slightly, with one of his non-smiles on, and looked so smug that she thought she’d crack and grin back at him. Little shit. 

 

“Yes. We might.”

  
  



End file.
